We examine why firms use nonlinear derivatives (e.g., options). Our results suggest that option characteristics in investment opportunities and debt, the payoff structure of incentive compensation, and free cash-flow agency problems influence the firm's choice. Investment opportunities,...

This study measures the performance of stacked hedge techniques with applications to investment assets and to commercial commodities. The naive stacked hedge is evaluated along with three other versions of the stacked hedge, including those which use exponential and minimum variance ratios....